Bingo! Fascists (exploiters) HATE the TRUTH.
Because under all the bullshit they KNOW what the truth is but they have to deny because it will mess up their number they have got going. Ever wonder why people are tortured to extract confessions that the torturers must know are false? It's to reinforce their own denial. This sets up major inner conflict which is hidden most of the time but explodes whe someone steps on their corns with the truth. Evidence Rush, A.C. et al. Mad as meataxes.
"When deceipt is universal, telling the truth is a truly revolutionary act." St. George Orwell.
Keep it up, Jonathan!

By writing anything even remotely resembling the truth, you lose the game Jonathan. The coprolaliapundit who graced your blog with his wisdom knows this.

There have always been people who favor ignoring reality in a particular way: religious fanatics, race theorists, flat-earthers. The problem we face is that modern sociotechnologies allow such people:

1. to meet, exchange such fantasies, and eventually interact only with each other.

2. to construct alternate realities that reinforce their fantasies.

In the long run, these technologies will become fully individualized, and each person will sink into a completely separate alternate reality, no longer needing to share "facts" or values with anyone else. This state will be safer than the current one, where individuals still feel the need to identify with groups by creating constellations of facts and values, many of which express themselves violently or disruptively.

Jon, re the "astute" blogger -- see what happens when you allow comments?

Yeah, Dennis, but he also gets us! And if having comments saves just one life, it's worth it.

Harry -- ok, I'll grant you that. After all, the life you save might be mine . . .

Jim Shanahan:

Bingo! Fascists (exploiters) HATE the TRUTH.

I think attributing this problem just to "fascists" or "exploiters" is much too narrow. Rather, fascism and exploitation AND many other unpleasant things arise from a certain mental tendency shared by all people (certainly including me).

Because under all the bullshit they KNOW what the truth is but they have to deny because it will mess up their number they have got going. Ever wonder why people are tortured to extract confessions that the torturers must know are false? It's to reinforce their own denial.

I believe that in such systems it's not just the people running things, the people on top, who are frightened of reality. It's the people on the bottom too. For instance, there are reports that the people convicted at Stalin's show trials actually appeared to believe their own confessions.

Harry:

coprolaliapundit

Nice! Too many people, such as Pe-Nart, don't appreciate a good portmanteau.

Jim Tobias:

In the long run, these technologies will become fully individualized, and each person will sink into a completely separate alternate reality, no longer needing to share "facts" or values with anyone else. This state will be safer than the current one, where individuals still feel the need to identify with groups by creating constellations of facts and values, many of which express themselves violently or disruptively.

I don't quite agree with either proposition here. First, there will always be an objective reality. The further people drift from it, the more violently it will eventually intrude on their imaginary world(s). Second, I think the need for group-identification is hardwired into humans. It will never leave us, particularly the more troubled among us. Especially on the lower rungs, people have to have some form of group identification, because they barely have any sense of who they are themselves.

Dennis:

see what happens when you allow comments?

I hope it doesn't make you uncomfortable when I reveal that, excluding yours, every comment ever posted on this site has been written by me under assumed identities.

Also, if you look up you will see that I am typing this while attached by suction cups to the ceiling directly above you.

Why do you people want to IGNORE cbs, cnn, AP, and al jazeera when they publish CONFIRMATION of the FACT that SYRIANS were bused into LEBANON for the neo-jihadist terrorist group HIZBALLAH's pro-Baathist rally?

And how can you argue that those who deducted this FACT from the rally, and who provide multpiple sourcing for the it are fantasy-based?

I argue that your position is untenable EXCEPT by denial and delusion.

This is delusional complex common for Leftists and others afflicted with BDS - Bush Derangement Syndrome.

The principle cause is psychological discomfort with the truth that:

(1) the entire Leftist ideology one has believed in has been entirely discreditied; (READ: USSR and Red China BOTH now free market economies which are doing better for their people than under Marxism); and (2)hat Bush is spreading actually doing a GREAT JOB of spreading liberty and democracy all over the world (and of exposing hypocrisy and corruption at the UN)with a robust and agressive foreign policy which comprises both multilateralism, AND unilaterialism; both diplomacy, AND military actions.

The technical term for the cause of your anger and delusion (and the reaction formation which causes you to call me "delusional," when it is in fact YOU who are delusional) is COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.

Have a nice day.

It's okay, Mr. Reliapundit, we don't hate you. Put your trousers back on, stop yelling at the mind control satellites and we won't mention this outburst to anyone.

I'd like to put a damper on things with another excerpt from Life and How to Survive It that's particularly relevant right this second. John Cleese has just been complaining about the reaction of religious fundamentalists to Life of Brian, and Skynner responds this way:

SKYNNER: To spell it out, it doesn't make sense to judge and condemn those members of society who use religious ideas to judge and condemn others—in fact, if you do so you are obviously just joining them and misunderstanding religious ideas in the same way. Criticizing, attacking or even making fun of them may make us feel a bit better temporarily, but it just locks them more tightly into their paranoid, black-and-white attitudes. In the long run they can only change, and we can only help them—and ourselves—to change, through understanding. Which means understanding ourselves, and seeing that in some part of us we are exactly the same as them.

While I agree with this, the self-control it requires is generally beyond me.

This a nice way of looking at things, but it assumes they're sincere and not just murdering people because it gives them a thrill, torturing people because of a sick need and anxious to do more of it because it's been such a success. The wingers don't need to change. They're remaking the world in their image.

Was gonna go into a bit of Mid East history for the sake of relia-hoot, but what's the point? And don't dare mention Israel's rather bloody role in southern Lebanon -- that makes the hoots howl with fury. Some occupations are fine. Certain massacres acceptable. Keep that in mind when they cry about Syria's involvement in Lebanon, staged emotion that's politically timed.

How did you know I was naked? Okay, okay, I ordered the book. And for what it's worth, I'm pretty nutty too.

*thought. Stupid alphabetical writing system.

Jonathan,
perhaps I shouldn't respond straight off the top of my head. Using labels is self defeating, I ,and generalising has to be done
view of the world is that everyday we are constantly faced with choices between compassion and exploitation. Consistently choosing one way or the other will lead us out of delusion into reality/life/creativity or deeper into the mire of lunacy and destruction for ourselves and others around us.
It is my (and others) observation that those that choose exploitation/hatred/division, call it what you want, try to relieve the ensueing mental distress for themselves by spreading it around, trying to suck others in with them.
I have found the comments of Matt Taibbi and Robyn Skinner most helpful and even comforting. Thank you for linking them. And thank you for the opportunity to post here and to read others' posts.
You can never know how far a generous act will travel.
Jim

Oops, the beginning of my post got a bit scrambled somehow. But I won't burden you with rewriting it . I think the gist is there.

Monsieur Ravenhurst—if that really IS your name—

Can you expand on your Korzybski comment?

Jim Shanahan,

I think you're right on the money about the way the exploitation/hatred/division people try to suck others in with them into whatever unpleasant mental landscape they inhabit. If they didn't have such a negative impact on the planet I have to live on, I'd feel deeply sorry for them. I still do, kind of.

Also, VERY glad you like the Skynner (and Taibbi) stuff. The Skynner/Cleese book has genuinely improved my day to day happiness, and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's the only book about psychology that's ever made immediate sense to me.

Alfred Korzybski began a sort of guide to thinking clearly, starting from the premise that "the map is not the territory." When someone uses the verb 'to abstract' the way Skynner did in this passage, it strongly suggests they know where the map/territory quote comes from. Sure enough, Robin Skynner's name appears on a list of notable or weird people with connections to general-semantics. (See previous link.) Google also reveals an article he wrote in the 50s on this subject. I didn't know anyone had combined John Cleese with GS, I'll try to lay hands on this book.

Omar K.,

Ah, I see. I'd actually thought you meant Taibbi, not Skynner, was referring to Korzybski. Which was confusing.

Anyway, I'd never heard of Korzybski before. Very interesting, thanks.

Skynner is also linked to Gurdjieff, and the central scene of "Monty Python's the Meaning of Life" - the one that includes "people aren't wearing enough hats" - can be taken as a summary of the Gurdjieffian perspective.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.